Nibbler and Pazuzu are two months old, they must be adorable.
You have little Tummies with Teeth. They will eat alot and probably four times a day.
A fully grown male will eat 3-4 ounces a day. Tummies with teeth will eat alot more for a few more months.
I will up the food amount to 6 ounces per day per ferret.If you have them on kibble, you want to take away the kibble for a few hours prior. Kibble and raw digest at different rates. That means a possible upset tummy and that can lead to a bacterial overgrowth.
They are on kibble right now, I will not be switching them for a few more days due to them being at Petco to see the Vet. If you will allow me to tweak your menu a bit. I'd like to make a few suggestions that will make it easier for little ones who still are young and not use to raw and bone in meals:
Monday am: Turkey Necks
Monday pm: Pig TailsTurkey necks are very tough to chew on. Chicken wing tips will be easier. This will be a Bone In meal
Unfortunately none of the 5 stores in my area sell just wing tips for either chicken or turkey. My wife and I may have to start eating chicken wings but I don't know if I can consider it a reliable food source.Fatty cuts of pork will also provide more meat and be considered a Muscle meat meal
Will Pork Butt roast work?Tuesday am: Chicken and Beef Heart
Tuesday pm: Turkey NecksHeart is a Muscle Meat meal. You want the boys to have ten percent of their weekly intake in Heart.
Instead of Turkey necks, Quail or Cornish game hens are a good beginner bone meal.
The first store I looked at Cornish game hens were $4-5 for 1 hen! Luckily another store sells them for $2.5 so I can include 1 or 2 a week. Wednesday am: Pig Tails
Wednesday pm: Pork Liver
Consider the Pig tails as treats and instead use a Bone In meal here.
Either chicken wings or quail or cornish game hen. Bones are the Non weight bearing bones of an animal the size of a chicken or smaller.
I will try to catch hens and chicken wings on sale.Pork Liver is an Organ meal. Here you want an Organ meal of Liver plus another Organ.
Right now I am using 1 meal of liver and one meal of Beef spleen, is this okay? I am going off 14 meals a week and 6 ounces of food per day. So each meal is about 7% of total intake. Do I need to give less then a full meal of liver?
Organs are secreting organs, like kidney/spleen/brains/pancreas and thymus. Mine love Pork brains.
One of the stores around me sells pork brains so I definitely will be adding those in for variety. I just want to start with a menu until my wife and I get more familiar with everything. I think I have access to pork kidneys and will also be including them into the mix.Liver is full of Vitamin A and is not eliminated. Too much Vitamin A can build up and so we limit their Liver to five percent of what they eat in a week. They will have two Organ meals in a week.
Thursday am: Chicken Breast
Thursday pm: Chicken and Beef Heart
Chicken breast is okay, but it's very lean. Fat equals energy for ferrets.
Here you have a Muscle meat meal and It's is a great chance to have another protein.
Pork/turkey/beef would be great here. Gizzards are great for cleaning teeth and building jaw strength.
Beef is high in Iron and Vitamin B and they should have at least one meal a week of red meat.
I do have gizzards on hand so that works well, should it be ground beef or ground chuck or does it matter. My wife has been wanting feed them an eggs since we got them and I kept telling her no. How dare you make me admit she was right!!! =]Your PM meal should be a Bone In meal here.
I will make this change.Friday am: Turkey Necks
Friday pm: Pig Tails
On the Frankenprey menu, You want 7-9 meals of Bone In meals
3-4 Muscle meat meals, one of which is heart.
1 liver plus another organ meal
1 1/4 liver plus another 1/4 organ meal plus a half meal of hearts.
You also want a minimum of three different proteins or meats.
I will post an updated menu soonSaturday am: Beef Spleen
Saturday pm: Pig Tails
Here is a great chance to use a beef meal and add an egg for the all important Omega 3/6 fatty acids.
Try ground beef here with a raw egg whipped up and poured on top.
Egg is wonderful for helping with excess fur from grooming.
I am assuming that you mean to replace the pig tails with ground beef (or ground chuck?) Sunday am: Chicken Breast
Sunday pm: Turkey NecksSince the boys are growing and need Calcium, I would do a Cornish Game hen on Sunday. They are inexpensive at around $2 and one game hen would probably serve them for both meals.
Should I cut the hen in half and put half in the am and half in pm or can I leave it out all day.It's very important to have the right balance with feeding raw. There is alot of great info on the Home Page under Natural Diet.
I have been doing my best to read through those. I will keep reading. I wanted to put out at least a starter menu so that I can start transitioning them over.We also have a Mentoring program that you can sign up for.
holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/61/sign-mentoring-programI am still trying to meet the 15 post minimum but after that I will be applying.Keep posting on your switching thread and other Mentors will also pop in and offer you advice and support.
We love baby pictures here, pretty please.
Have fun with your boys and see you around the HFF
(dance)
Thank you so much for passing down your wisdom! As soon as my snake rabbits ( my brothers name for them) are back with me I will post pictures.